COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (June 14, 2008) - Reigning Olympic champions Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh set a record for team gold-medal finishes on the SWATCH FIVB World Tour on Saturday as the U.S. beach volleyball tandem defeated Jia Tian and Jie Wang of China for the US$600,000 smart Grand Slam title in Berlin, Germany.

Played before more than 5,000 fans in front of the German capital's main train station at the Washingtonplatz, the top-seeded May-Treanor (Costa Mesa, Calif.) and Walsh (Santa Clara, Calif.) posted a 21-18, 22-20 win in 45 minutes over the seventh-seeded Chinese pair to share the $43,500 first-place prize. Tian and Wang split $29,500 for second-place.

In winning for the seventh-straight time on the SWATCH FIVB World Tour, May-Treanor and Walsh increased their career international gold-medal count to 32. May-Treanor and Walsh had been tied with the legendary Brazilian tandems of Emanuel Rego/Ricardo Santos (men) and Adriana Behar/Shelda Bede (women) with 31 SWATCH medals entering this week's smart Grand Slam.

"We are so glad to be in the same company with those two great teams," Walsh said. "Records are made to be broken. But for today, Misty and I can claim to be on top of list. It has taken a lot of hard work over years and I am very lucky to have a great partner. We'll celebrate tonight, but it is back to work for next week's grand slam event in Paris."

May-Treanor, who was named the SWATCH most outstanding player for the 12th annual smart Grand Slam, also won a women's record 35th SWATCH FIVB World Tour gold medal as she had captured three titles with Holly McPeak (Manhattan Beach, Calif.) in 2000, including a stop in Berlin. Walsh earned her 34th FIVB title as she claimed two gold medals with Rachel Wacholder (Laguna Beach, Calif.) when May-Treanor was sidelined with injuries in 2004

DALHAUSSER AND ROGERS ADVANCE TO MEN'S SEMIFINAL

The U.S. men's beach volleyball team of Phil Dalhausser (Ormond Beach, Fla.) and Todd Rogers (Santa Barbara, Calif.) took a pair of victories on Saturday to advance to Sunday's semifinal at the smart Grand Slam event in Berlin.

The teams in the other men's semifinal were still being determined on Saturday.

The U.S. team of Jake Gibb (Bountiful, Utah) and Sean Rosenthal (Redondo Beach, Calif.), seeded sixth, lost in the second round to Herrera and Mesa (21-13, 17-21, 18-20). The team of Matt Fuerbringer (Costa Mesa, Calif.) and Casey Jennings (Las Vegas, Calif.), ranked 10th, fell in the second round to Germany's 14th-seeded Jonas Reckermann and Micsha Urbatzka (21-23, 21-19, 10-15).